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The public sharing of one’s last thoughts is a way to acknowledge that the end is near, but it also destigmatizes death for others, said medical experts who work with terminally ill patients.
In the Internet age, many people reflect on their lives through video, personal blogs and larger websites such as CaringBridge.org, where people who have major health events connect and share online.
“What we’

Dr. Angelo E. Volandes, the author of an enlightening new book, “The Conversation,” said that although Americans received some of the best health care money could buy, “they also experience some of the worst deaths in the developed world,” mainly because people failed to articulate what they wished for at the end of life, and doctors failed “to recognize that fixing specific problems may not fix the whole

In most American communities, casseroles and deli platters — often brought over by sympathetic friends and neighbors — are standard-issue post-funeral fare. But around the world, mourners are fed a wide range of flavorful dishes, explains writer Lisa Rogak in her book “Death Warmed Over: Funeral Food Rituals, and Customs from Around the World” (Ten Speed Press). From Mexican Bread of the Dead to South Afr